This invention relates to pharmacologically active pregnane-21-oic acid derivatives, to processes for the preparation and use thereof and to medicinal agents containing these pregnane-21-oic acid derivatives.
DOS (German Unexamined Laid-Open Application) 2,204,361 discloses 20-oxopregnane-21-oic acid derivatives which differ essentially from the pregnane-21-oic acid derivatives of the present invention in that they have no substituents in the 14.alpha.- and 17.alpha.- positions. This DOS describes the possibility of producing the previously known pregnanoic acid derivatives from the corresponding 20-hydroxypregnene-21-oic acid derivatives by oxidizing the latter in an inert solvent with oxidizing heavy metal oxides, such as manganese(IV) oxide or lead(IV) oxide. It can be seen from the specification and examples of DOS 2,204,361 that it is unnecessary to observe critical specific reaction conditions when carrying out the oxidation method described in this reference.